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December 2011

Banksy is a British street artist, famous for his satirical graffiti art. He has been known to sneak his art into into famous galleries to hang alongside more traditional curated art. In 2007 thieves removed a section of a wall with an angle grinder because Banksy had stencilled around the ‘No Ball Games’ sign on it. The wall was later found on ebay for sale for 20,000 pounds.

In a clever twist The Art Series Hotel is running a unique competition where guests are invited to steal Banksy prints worth AUD 15,000 each. The two key conditions are you must be a guest at the hotel and you must remove the piece undetected. If you are discovered then the art is returned to the wall for another guest to try their hands. Clues to the art’s whereabouts are being posted on Facebook and Twitter.

One down, one to go

The first piece “No Ball Games” was stolen just four days after being hung with a straight forward ploy. Pretending to be from one of the Art Series Hotel agencies moving the pieced to another property the theft walked out in broad daylight. But the game is not over as another Banksy piece “Pulp Fiction” is now in it’s place. The competition runs until the 15th of January 2012, hopefully the second piece takes longer to steal!

The Art Series Hotels are located in Australia’s cultural capital Melbourne. The chain’s three properties – The Cullen, The Olsen and The Blackman are inspired by Australia’s artistic’s greats and the hotel walls are adorned with original art and prints.

The art world has always been intertwined with scandal – from theft to forgeries. The “stay the night, steal the art” competition is engaging and intriguing, embracing the spirit of both Banksy and The Art Series Hotels.

Jasmine accepting the Reader’s Digest award for Most Trusted Confectionary brand in 2011

Welcome to the final day of the 12 Days of Advertising series! In the war of the chocolate giants we are tied 1 – 1 with guests Jen Corbett and Steve Dimakis, choosing Whittaker’s ‘Swear by the Slab’ and Cadbury’s ‘Share the Joy’ respectively, as their favourite campaigns of 2011. To settle the score our final guest is Jasmine Griffin, Brand Manager of Whittaker’s. I first heard Jasmine speak at a digital conference in Auckland earlier this year. I was particularly struck by the way Whittaker’s integrating digital and traditional advertising campaigns. Whittaker’s is a great example of what can be achieved when you have an overall brand strategy – not separate traditional and digital media approaches. Growing up Jasmine wanted to be a ballet dancer, while she still dances now, she switched career paths at the last minute and studied Marketing at Victoria University in Wellington. Turning out to be a natural she stayed and achieved First Class Honours. Having a sweet tooth she struck it lucky landing the dream job of marketing assistant at Whittaker’s straight from university. It didn’t take long until Jasmine’s skills in digital and branding meant she was promoted to brand manager. She has led the way for Whittaker’s to embrace an integrated social media strategy. Don’t forget our Puma giveaway closes 20th December – so leave a comment and tell us what you think to enter!

The Best of 2011 Nicole: What was your favourite New Zealand advertising/marketing campaign for 2011? Jasmine: While I am just a little bit biased, I would have to say the Whittaker’s “Swear by the Slab” campaign would be my favourite for 2011.This campaign included our most iconic product, the Peanut Slab, which was first launched in the 1950s in an unwrapped form, and then in its wrapped form in 1984. So it’s been around for a long time! We hadn’t actually done any television advertising for the Peanut Slab in over 10 years.Our aim was to produce an eye catching campaign that was fun and exciting for the young male audience it was targeted at, and also integrate both online and offline communications seamlessly. We knew that we needed something that would capture this audience effectively (as they tend to have quite high creative wear out rates) so we produced multiple executions to keep the campaign fresh and interesting. The creative concept was simple yet effective. Much like a bible in court, you had to ‘Swear by the Slab’ which resulted in some very honest and occasionally awkward situations…there’s nothing better than good honest chocolate right?We wanted to entertain our audience, give them the chance to participate and be creative, and also create conversations that drive engagement. The television advertising created brand awareness for the campaign and the interactive component that was run through the Whittaker’s Peanut Slab Facebook page provided an excellent platform for engaging fans with the Whittaker’s brand. To watch the montage of ‘Swear by the Slab’ clips check outDay Seven’s guest post by Jen Corbett here. Not only did we ask people to submit their own scripts, we also took this a step further to extend the hype producing 4 of the fan generated scripts and putting them out to the community to vote on. The winner scored a year’s supply of Peanut Slabs and this was the video he posted on our page, which was a great end to a successful campaign.

Nicole: The type of brand love that most of us dream of! The winner of the “Swear by the Slab” competition created this stop-motion video from his prize – a year’s worth of peanut slabs!Jasmine: In the end I think we managed to successfully integrate both our traditional offline marketing and our digital touch points, revitalising the Peanut Slab brand and building a digital community for the Peanut Slab which we are looking forward to utilising in years to come.Nicole: The Swear by the Slab is a great example of what can be achieved when traditional marketing and new media is integrated rather than addressed separately. As Julie Roulston said on Day One of the 12 Days of Advertising series said: “don’t publish work that is too finished, and publish it in such a way that you optimize people’s ability to borrow it and make it their own”. Whittaker’s sowed the seed with their TV campaign and then invited the public to reinvent and create their own versions. Few restrictions were placed on the creative process and the competition spread through Facebook as friends and fans were encouraged to vote for their favourites. Handing control over to your fans is a risk – but one that definitely paid off for Whittaker’s.

If there’s anything for us to learn in this is – don’t kid yourself when it comes to the integration of your campaign. Whatever the medium or the market – keep it honest. ~ Jen Corbett, Flitter [12 Days of Advertising – Day Seven]

Whittaker’s also recognised that the “swear by the slab” campaign and brand had a different “voice” than the rest of the Whittaker’s communications. They started a new Facebook page that has a cheekier, youthful tone (with posts like “If you love someone let them go, they might come back with a Peanut Slab!”). The Peanut Slab Facebook page currently has over 18,000 fans (the main Whittaker’s Chocolate Lovers page has over 72,000). The Peanut Slab ads have been viewed over 80,000 on the Whittaker’s YouTube channel. But most importantly, the campaign led to an impressive increase in sales of Peanut Slabs and recently a brand extension into the ‘mini slab’ range. To quote David Ogilvy “If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative”. Trends for 2012…Nicole: What do you expect to see more of in 2012? Jasmine: I think campaigns that work are ones that can leverage off both offline and online communications. Digital is a new and constantly evolving form of media and at times can be quite hard to keep up with (just look at all the changes Facebook have recently made). Inevitably brands are going to be incorporating digital into their strategies but the key thing to remember is that nothing happens in isolation. You can’t have an excellent online strategy without the support of your traditional media. Digital is a key component of any brands overall strategy but it must be integrated with all other communications and it must provide a consistent brand message. Nicole: What do you expect (or hope to) see less of in 2012? Jasmine: I would like to see more brands understanding the importance of engagement on social media. A large fan base on Facebook/Twitter is beneficial, and many large and established brands pay a lot of money to acquire those fans, but there is no point in spending that money unless you have the right people committed to interacting with those fans on a daily basis, providing knowledgeable and timely responses.

Which chocolate company do you think won the branding battle in 2011?

Don’t forget that every comment goes into the draw to win a pair of Puma hi-tops – closes 20th December 2011 so get in quick!

The guest contributor for day eleven is Steve Dimakis, a Senior Media Planner at MEC Wellington, the media arm of Y & R. You can find out more about MEC New Zealand here and globally here. Steve has had over 10 years experience working in the advertising industry comprising of time spent working in agencies, for media providers and directly consulting to brands. His pick for 2011 demonstrates how a brand can successfully utilise their “essence” and he has some wise insights on the matter.

Best of 2011 Nicole: What was your favourite New Zealand advertising/marketing campaign for 2011?

Steve: I really would love to be able to list one of my own clients here, but the campaign for 2011 that really struck a chord with me was “Share The Joy” for Cadbury New Zealand

Nicole: What made Cadbury’s “Share the Joy” your pick? Steve:I have spent a significant amount of time working with brands in the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) sector and feel that many could learn from Cadbury’s campaign. Like most in the FMCG world, Cadbury will operate on low margin, high turnover and are quite often subject to retailers’ pricing demands in a market where switching costs between brands is nil.

What I like about this campaign is that it is all about giving Kiwi’s a reason to love the brand again and so when they are at the shelf, they have a reason to pick Cadbury ahead of any other offering, regardless of price point.

Cadbury Snow Globe

Nicole: My personal favourite in the Cadbury “Share the Joy” series is the Snow Globe created in Auckland last Christmas.

The tactics of the campaign are truly integrated and all work to embody the essence of the campaign. From a house in Auckland that spectacularly light up when people clapped and made joyful noise to a song made entirely from the unique noises of joy in New Zealand as well as the traditional, and not so traditional, media channels used to generate awareness of each tactic. Everything works together nicely.

However, regardless of the executions and their relative success, what I truly love about this campaign is that it moves away from selling based just on the products under the brand halo and sells based on the essence of the brand. It harks back to when Charles Revson – one of the founders of Revlon – appealed to the sales force, asking them to explain what they were selling. As expected, none of the answers provided by the sales force got to the essence of what Revlon was actually about. Revlon was not a company that sold nail polish or beauty products in general. According to Charles Revson, Revlon was selling hope… Hope that by using these products, I could be closer to living the life portrayed in their campaigns.

Cadbury, it may literally be chocolate, but sharing joy is the essence.

Nicole: What do you expect to see more of in 2012?

Steve: The biggest trend for 2012 that I can see is the continued emergence of mobile. Increasingly, brands and their agencies are realising that in the current climate of fragmented consumption and technology, nothing has really changed. If we want to get our message in front of our target audience and engage with them, then we need to be where they are. This is as true today as it was in 1952. Our challenge is to understand the audience, empathise with the audience and engage the audience. It therefore makes sense that mobile advertising, while already growing, will continue to grow as more members of each target audience continue to spend more and more time engaged with their mobile devices. Content is and always will be king, the important thing is to understand how and why that content is being consumed by your audience and leverage that knowledge.

Nicole: What do you expect (or hope to) see less of in 2012?

Steve: There are so many things that come to mind here, but I need to be careful not to land myself in trouble 🙂

I would hope to see more brands treat Social Media the way it should be. I would hope to see more brands realise that the greatest way for them to sell their products or services is by word of mouth or “peer to peer recommendation”. Again, something that hasn’t changed since day dot.

Social Media is nothing but a grouping of software applications that let people stay in contact with each other and get closer to the things they are passionate about. There is nothing scary or difficult about using social media to your advantage, you just need to keep in mind what each social media tool was designed for.

Tom Reidy is the Founder and Managing Director of Catalyst90 – a social media agency that agencies use. Tom describes Catalyst90 as a group of “bright, creative and passionate geeks” which is probably why they also started the Wellington chapter of the Social Media Club. Tom has more than a decade of technical sales and marketing and more than three years social media experience behind him. If you’re based in Wellington, I’d highly recommend popping along to the next Social Media Club event in the new year and in the meantime get a fix of social media new on Catalyst’s blog. Leave a comment to go in the draw to win a pair of Puma kicks (closes 20th December 2011)!

Best of 2011Nicole: What was your favourite New Zealand advertising/marketing campaign for 2011?

Tom: Mammoth Dips – Real Man Food, Man.Nicole: Why was Mammoth Supply Co. your pick? I liked this most of all due to the good humor and the fact that no man likes nibbles! The humor content was the winner on this, simple and effective. No frills or flowers just straight to the point. This is a great example of work focusing directly on the target audience with no compromise or softening of the message. A bit of a missed opportunity in the social space, but a great campaign never the less.

Mammoth Dips “Real Men” TVC

Nicole: According to Stoppress the original strategy was to appeal to men but without alienating women who were still considered the product purchasers.

Trends for 2012…Nicole: What do you expect to see more of in 2012? Tom: Overall I’d say we will see a continual rise in digital marketing, especially in the social space with many NZ brands exploring things such as FB apps, naturally I’m a little bias here. I’d like to see more ads such as the Mammoth Dips that understand the audience and the best way to communicate to them.It’s also time that we realise that in social media “quality bets quantity”. The latest CatalystEnigma stats demonstrate that the number of engaged Twitter users in New Zealand is hovering around just 20,000 people. But according to Tom, this group of people are characterised as being early adopters, “These are smart and tech savvy people who have an increasingly large influence on mainstream media channels. If you manage to excite and inspire even a small proportion of these people, your message will spread through Twitter to other social media, then offline and, if it’s compelling enough, through to mainstream media. After all, Twitter is where traditional media now looks for breaking news”. Read more on this here. Nicole: What do you expect (or hope to) see less of in 2012? Tom: Ha without doubt I’d love to see less brands trying to control social, more should focus on how to empower through social. I also hope to see less of brands having little or no content through the social networks and more of smart positioning.

Day Nine: John Lai, Social Media NZ John Lai is the Malaysian born, Auckland bred, founder of Social Media NZ. Social Media NZ is an influential digital and tech information hub. John is passionate about business and technology. John is also involved in a startup in Palo Alto, California called Chattrspace. He’s also a big sports fan and die hard Liverpool FC supporter. You can check out John’s blog here and the latest digital and tech news on Social Media NZ’s site. Read what John’s pick (well picks) were for 2011 and leave a comment for a chance to win a pair of Puma hi-tops! Best of 2011 Nicole: What was your favourite New Zealand campaign of 2011?John: Alright! First off I can’t choose between two, so I will have to have two choices:

Air New Zealand’s Rico

The NZTA’s Legend aka Ghost Chips

Nicole: So what made these two campaign your favourites? John: Well, let’s start with Air New Zealand’s Rico… before people go and criticise the little critter I must say it needed to do what it’s intention was to make New Zealand appeal specifically to the American market. So one could argue that the marketing campaign knew it’s market and the American entertainment culture, where cheesy factor and borderline comedy is accepted. Just recently Air New Zealand and the world said their goodbyes to Rico as the character was murdered! Air New Zealand teamed up with the board game conglomerate Hasbro to implement the popular crime solving game Cluedo allowing people to solve Rico’s murder for a chance to win a trip to Los Angeles.The campaign definitely challenged the ‘PC’ culture New Zealand is known for and the campaign had its critics and likers. As someone who likes to see the status quo being challenged it, I found the campaign very interesting. And let’s be honest – how awesome if your HR policy included a game if a staff was fired or left the company!?!

Rico’s murderer busted!

Nicole: After letting people solve Rico’s murder through a digital version of Cluedo, the murderer was recently revealed in the confession video below – an engaging, and suitably dramatic, way of closing a campaign!

Now onto the NZTA’s Legend ad. Who would have guessed that giving away ghost chips could save lives right?The NZ Transport Agency’s campaign targeted the right demographic and not only that it created an internet meme, the video as it stands right now has over 1,400,000 YouTube hits. One could argue drink and driving is no laughing matter, but the ad used a fresh perspective from the usual brutal look at what the outcome is when one drinks and drives.The question that I am sure everyone is still asking is….does it saves life? Does it return the right ROI?I personally think the message had more of an impact due to the fact of how the message have been repurposed on social platforms and while still sharing the “don’t drink and drive” message.The NZTA’s Legend was also chosen by another 12 Days of Advertising contributor Julie Roulston of NZ Fashion Week – you can read her thoughts on the campaign here.Trends for 2012 Nicole: What do you think we’ll see more of in 2012? John: Next year we will see less social networks and more local networks. This means more interests centric groups will pop up more beat example of this if you look at a new startup call letterboxd. This where movie buffs come to together to talk all things movie related. This is just one example but we will see more of these sort of social networks that concentrates on quality over quantity.

Next year we will see more social media integration into TV. This year in New Zealand we saw channels like U live, TV3, TV1 integrate interactive elements within their programs to get the audience engage but it’s still most using Facebook as a medium. In 2012 we will see these channels explore further and being more creative in ways of using other networks like Twitter, Youtube and etc.

Nicole: What do you think (or hope) to see less of in 2012?John: I hope to see more brands being smart and knowing your company first and whether social media is a good fit or not. Don’t be on social media for the sake of being on it!

Day Eight: Emma Lawrence, Emma Lawrence PR(Don’t forget that just by commenting on this post you are in the draw to win an awesome pair of Puma kicks!)

Emma Lawrence is an online PR and marketing expert based in Gisborne, New Zealand. Emma helps small businesses make a big impact using creative, social and engaging communication. She shares practical advice on PR and social media on her website – check it out here. You can also follow Emma onTwitter andFacebook.NZTA’s ‘Legend’ aka ‘Ghost Chips’ started off the 12 Days of Advertising series and Emma picks another government campaign related to alcohol use as her favourite of 2011. The Best of 2011Nicole: What was your favourite campaign of 2011?Emma: A stand out for me this year is the Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand’s ‘Ease up on the drink’ campaign.

“Instead of focusing just on the drinker, we are also trying to reach the potential influencers of those drinkers who have the opportunity and motivation to do positive things that help themselves and the people they care about avoid drinking too much.” ~ ALAC Chief executive Officer Gerard Vaughan

‘Ease Up On The Drink’ Campaign

Nicole: What made this campaign your favourite? Emma: All the ads in this campaign have a strong message and are easy for everyday NZers to relate to. Everyone knows what the “”just don’t bring your mates along this time”” line refers to and even though you often hear it being used jokingly, it’s a gentle reminder of the damage alcohol can do. Those ads have made a serious issue easier to talk about.

Trends for 2012 Nicole: What do your expect to see more of in 2012? Emma: More campaigns that integrate social media to actively engage their audience and encourage a two-way conversation. There’s definitely a shift towards more relationship marketing, which Seth Godin says best in his quote:

“Turn strangers into friends. Turn friends into customers and then… do the most important job: Turn your customers into salespeople.”

Nicole: What do you expect (or hope to) see less of in 2012? Emma: I hope I never have to see another Big Save Furniture TV ad or anything like it again (not likely, I know). But I see there is even an ‘Annoying Big Save Furniture Girl Anti-Fan Club’ page on Facebook with 674 likes at present – another example of how social media is making it harder for companies to get away with old-school, in-your-face advertising with a complete lack of creativity.

That said, some people may argue that all the extra attention Big Save gets for winning the worst ad awards etc is still free publicity; but personally I don’t think positioning yourself as the most annoying brand is a good thing!

What do you think? Are bad ads actually effective because they are memorable and talked about?

Our seventh guest contributor for 12 Days of Advertising is Jen Corbett. Jen grew up in Sunny Gisborne and Havelock North but went on to study Media and English Literature at Victoria University in Wellington.

After University, she moved to Auckland to work at boutique design agency before deciding to get into ads. She was accepted into the Axis Adschool at Media Design School and shortly afterwards landed a place at DraftFCB. After that, she scooped up the dream job of Social Media Specialist at GrabOne in 2010, and is now off to help implement social media for the New Zealand Fashion Festival (Feb 24th to March 4th 2012). She’s also about to get married to longtime partner Justin Flitter and is supporting the development of their new marketing startup Flitter.

Outside of social media and setting up her new blog ideas before breakfast she loves good New Zealand wine, fashion, food & exploring a passion for photography and dreaming about all the far-off places she will one day get a chance to travel to.

Jen’s extensive background in social media strategies means she has some great insights for marketers in 2012, and her pick for 2011 is a brand that successfully pulled off an integrated TV and social media campaign that was engaging and supported the brand personality perfectly.

Best of 2011

Nicole: What was your favourite New Zealand advertising campaign for 2011?

There are a few that stand out to me but my favourite has to be Whittaker’s Swear by the Slab campaign. They hadn’t done anything for the Slab 10 years before this one. They’ve crossed the lines between traditional and social in this the right way without losing any of the qualities that define the brand. They combined a hugely entertaining television campaign that people talked about. And they combined it with executed a brilliant social media execution – launching a Facebook page complete with witty status updates, carrying on the “Good honest Chocolate” story with the community and even giving them the chance to contribute their own scripts – some of which they even went on to make.

Montage of ‘Swear by the Slab’ TV Ads

Nicole: What made Whittaker’s campaign your pick?

Jen: I love how they successfully maintain a 360 degree consistency in their share of voice both online and off.

And just as the humanness of the Peanut Slab creative makes it memorable in traditional mediums – it’s also what makes it effective on social. The insightfulness about it is based on a purely social observation. This enhances and opens up the community for conversation. The ads are enjoyed so much when they’re on TV people go on youtube to re-watch them. In effect they’ve tied a community of Peanut Slab lovers together for the long term – giving them a place to share and continue this on facebook – without being irritating, intrusive or annoying.

Nicole: Some ways community interaction is being continued beyond the initial ‘Swear by the Slab’ promotion through the Peanut Slab Facebook page

I think we can learn a lot from the way they’ve used each channels for engagement – enhancing the strengths of every medium to enhance their message without trying too hard. The belief in building a following of brand ambassadors for future campaigns and initiatives.

If there’s anything for us to learn in this is – don’t kid yourself when it comes to the integration of your campaign. Whatever the medium or the market – keep it honest.

Trends for 2012

Nicole: What do you expect to see more of in 2012?

Jen: As we’ve seen overseas, I think there will be more marketing and advertising ideas and stories co-created (or co-decided upon) by their community before and during campaigns. I’m not talking about crowdsourcing as such – more of a co-operation between brands and the people that like them. Brands that say “ok, so you love us, what do you want from us next?”. Brands who aren’t afraid to ask their fans to help create their message.

I also think we’ll see more brands acknowledging the value of investing in and fine tuning engaging, creative and entertaining/informational content over one off campaigns to “win an iPad”. It’s all about working to build an engaged and long-term community of supporters who are more likely to buy and refer your product. They’ll be teaming up with small shops and specialists to help them achieve that in-house.

Giving a group of possible supporters a reason to like you, nurturing that – keeps them coming back and already half lined up to buy your products – or tell their mates to.

More focus on building reliable and socially authentic – everyday brand advocates not just sports celebrities sourced via social networks. The power of social recommendation is still hugely untapped, and I think we’ll see more fostering of connections between fans who are already interested in your product – who act as catalysts for recommendation.

All this tied with a smarter understanding of (increasingly social and mobile) consumer touch points. Some of us are going to start getting really good at this in 2012 – and that’s what’s going to separate the best from the rest.

Nicole: What do you expect (or hope to) see less of in 2012?

If there’s one thing I hate it’s try-hard executions – and campaigns which try hard to be social for the sake of it. I hope to see less:

Competitions without real engagement such as ‘like/follow to win’ campaigns

Requests to like/follow without providing a reason or brand connection

And brands setting up accounts with the short term – without considering the long term community they are building

I also can’t stand noise. The brands that don’t generate a quality or engaged following or maintain a consistent voice authentic to their brand won’t scale in their return on investment or see any increased engagement for their brand. I’d like to see less brands naively jumping in to their social accounts without a strategy (not to mention understanding things like promotion guidelines and etiquette) Brands recognising that having social media dedicated staff on board to enhance and manage their online presence for the long term is key to future marketing success.

Jen and the team at GrabOne have created a social experience around buying online – are you more likely to buy something online because of your interactions with friends online?